


sweet child o' mine

by theredhoodie



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demonic Possession, Exorcisms, F/M, Southern Gothic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 08:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8364376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredhoodie/pseuds/theredhoodie
Summary: There was something very strange going on in the Fuller household. And it'll take a traveling exorcist in horn-rimmed glasses to figure it out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this came from a tweet from a friend of mine on twitter saying "Southern Gothic au where Richard is a traveling exorcist and kate is a possessed preacher's daughter" and I obviously HAD to write it.
> 
> Briefly edited by me. Could have ended up at like 37k words but I wanted to leave it open for your imagination at the end ;)
> 
> I also wanted to add as many nods to the TV show scenes as possible! I hope you catch them all :)

There was something very strange going on in the Fuller household. The Fullers—Jacob, Mary, Kate and Scott—were a simple Southern family with simple lives and simple ambitions. Jacob was a beloved preacher of Bethel, Mary did community work six days a week—seven if you included Sundays—Kate was the innocent belle of her high school who no one could hate, and Scott really loved comic books and was trying to start up a Christian rock band. Their lives had been simple for years and years, and then one day, it wasn't.

Kate was a devoted girl. She loved God and she knew He loved her, too. She prayed to Him whenever she felt weak and she had resisted temptation—except that one time two weeks ago when she French kissed her boyfriend, Kyle, behind the church podium but she hadn't liked it, the alien feeling of someone else's tongue in her mouth. Her father was proud of her, her mother loved her, her brother annoyed her, but in a way that was normal and made her feel safe and loved by him anyway.

When she came home, five days ago, from a dinner with Kyle in a well-lit diner in the center of town, Kate was different. She was absentminded, her eyes darted around like she was chasing a fly, and she ignored her parents greetings. She went straight upstairs to her room, leaving the door open. She walked every inch of the floor, across the fluffy rug, her eyes continuing to jerk around in their sockets. Upon hearing Mary call her name and the creak of the stairs, Kate left her dark room and locked herself in the bathroom.

It took Mary a moment to realize where she was, and the soft knock on the bathroom door was unwelcome to the girl inside. "Kate, honey, are you alright? Did something happen? Do you need to talk?"

Kate, standing with the lights off, ran her hands over the porcelain sink, over the cool faucet, up her arm, feeling her skin, the fabric of her cardigan.

"Kate?" her father's voice came from outside the door. She didn't answer, and she ignored the murmurs she could hear.

She ran her hands over her shoulders, collarbones, her neck, her face, then down over her cotton covered breasts, her flat stomach, her hips.

Jacob banged on the door. "Now, Kate, answer me right now," he said, his voice as rough and demanding as he could make it. He was a soft and kind man, it took a lot to anger him or make him raise his voice.

"We just want to make sure you're okay," Mary added.

Sucking in a breath, Kate unlocked the handle and pulled it open. Light from the hall flooded the bathroom and momentarily blinded her. She blinked rapidly and then smiled a smile that, for a split second, looked far too wide for her face. "I'm fine," she said. "I was just distracted." Thinking that was an acceptable answer, she kissed her mother's cheek and slipped past her parents. "I'm going to get some rest."

The door closing behind her was a deafening, definite sound.

 _Get out!_ Kate screamed, but no one heard her.

 

 

 

 

 

You would be hard pressed to find anyone in the world who does not have sins to atone for. Many men and women in the Christian community were there because they did something bad and were trying to win back whatever good graces they can.

Richard Gecko was no different.

Born as a bad seed to a bad seed, he had little chance to become an upstanding citizen. Richard's father died in a house fire that may, or may have not, been caused by Richard himself. He and his brother were then raised by their uncle Eddie, an underground criminal with a heart of gold. Fights, petty crimes, and misunderstandings with the police followed the Gecko brothers around. Seth ended up in jail. Richard ended up living off the grid, barely socializing, killing rabbits and snakes for food.

And then, one night, after he was visited by a sympathetic acquaintance from the force, Richard fell asleep, beer on his breath, and he had a vision. It was a spirit of some kind, warm and glowing, flooding him with the feeling of motherly love. He couldn't tell anyone for certain what the spirit said, or what it did to him, but when he awoke, he found he had purpose.

And that purpose was to fight demons.

Actual demons not personal ones; demonic spirits trying to take the lives of the living and continue to spread the sins of their horrid lives. And, as Richard found out in the coming months, he could _see_ these demons like a double exposure of film slipping over and under a human body.

Richard was smart, a prodigy without the training, and he did research. He read books, he talked to mediums and psychics—and always knew which ones were real and which were fake—and he began what felt like to him, his one true purpose: exorcising demons and saving human souls.

 

 

 

 

 

"There is something wrong with our daughter," Mary said one night while she and Jacob lay in bed. She had been staring at the same page in her book for twenty minutes while Jacob scribbled notes about his upcoming sermon in a small leather notepad.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, distracted by his work.

"I mean," Mary said calmly, putting her book down in her lap, "that she is not acting like herself. Not since she went out with Kyle."

Jacob, who was a fervent believer in waiting until college to even consider dating, perked up at the mention of Kate's so-called boyfriend. He looked over at his wife, saw the blatant worry on her face, and put aside his journal. "Has she?"

"Yes!" Mary insisted. "It's like…all of a sudden, all manners and normal social behaviors have gone out the window. Even one of her teachers contacted me personally because there has been such a change."

"Who? Which teacher?" Jacob asked.

"Don Bellinger."

Jacob scoffed. "You can't believe everything that man says. He gambles!"

"And that makes him untrustworthy? Jacob," Mary paused and scooted around so she could look directly into her husband's eyes, "something is wrong with Kate."

Jacob, who always saw the best in people, found it a hard pill to swallow. If he allowed himself, he would realize that Kate had been acting strange for the past five days. She spoke flippantly, she acted disrespectful, she somehow got her hands on dark makeup that she tried wiping off before coming home but he could tell, and, most shockingly, she had stopped wearing her cross.

He sighed. "Something must have happened with that Kyle kid. You should talk with her." He didn't want to think about his daughter dating, much less about the sort of things that came along with teenagers seeing each other in a non-platonic light. He would only talk to her as a last resort.

"I'll talk to her in the morning," Mary said. She was still wound up with worry, but at least Jacob was on her side. She settled back down on the mattress, put her book aside and turned off her lamp. The room was still bright from the other side of the bed, but she shut her eyes and said a silent prayer, asking for help and guidance for Kate.

Beside her, Jacob returned to writing his sermon.

 

 

 

 

 

The spirit currently residing in Kate Fuller's body was not a demon nor was it the devil, but it was most definitely a disturbed force. Kate's consciousness flickered in and out, and all she knew is that five days had passed and her family and friends were unhurt. For that, she was grateful, but with only brief glimpses of the spirit's intentions, she was beginning to worry something bad was going to happen.

She was going to have to fight, and Kate was not a fighter.

The spirit gave her a back row seat as her mother sat her down before school to talk to her. She had to watch as the spirit used her body to portray a person that she wasn't: selfish, rude, uncaring. She wanted to scream, but she knew she wouldn't be heard.

"Honey, did something happen between you and Kyle a few nights ago?" Mary asked, her eyes kind and open, honest and loving.

It made Kate want to cry, but she didn't have her own bodily control. Of course her mother would realize something was wrong. They were close, bonded, there was no way that Mary Fuller could think her daughter would act like this.

"Something like what? Are you asking if he raped me?"

Mary Fuller was like her husband: she saw the best in people, but, unlike her husband, she also was quick to see that some people had badness in them. She never thought that way about her daughter, and that word, potent and powerful, was not what she expected to hear. Kate could tell, because she felt it too.

"He didn't," the spirit finished after a beat, letting her mom simmer in the terrible thought. "He said he won't have sex until he's married." The spirit slumped in Kate's body and inspected her nails.

Mary straightened her back, determination steeling her motherly compassion for something a bit stronger. "Katherine Anne Fuller," Kate had never been so happy to hear her full name, it meant her mother truly realized something was wrong, "I won't stand this attitude you've been giving me, your father, or your teachers. You've been acting out in class, being completely disrespectful, and I want to know what is going on right this instant."

Kate tried her hardest to fight, to break through and say something, but instead, the spirit stood and rolled her eyes. And then Kate heard words from her mouth never uttered, especially when directed at her mother: "Fuck. You."

Mary was so stunned she didn't move as the spirit walked Kate out of the house, all the while Kate kicked and screamed inside her own body, trapped and unable to do anything at all.

 _You…you…son of a…_ but she couldn't say the curse word, even in her mind, even just to herself. She sat back since the spirit was in control, and imagined herself crying as her life fell apart before her very eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Richard had a small arsenal of knowledge and trinkets to help exorcise spirits and demons from human hosts. He knew a lot of Latin, he had read through multiple versions of the bible to gain knowledge of the religion, and he had talismans to capture the demons and spirits before he vanquished them. The most useful he found were things of Mayan and Incan heritage. A bronze amulet of a snake eating it's own tail around a sun. A human bone carved with a human eye. He had a few other things as well: Star of David, a simple golden cross…the usual stuff.

Tried and true, every time he found an actual true possession, his tricks worked. His reputation spread: the mystery man who appeared out of nowhere and could cure true demonic possessions. People were grateful enough to pay him most of the time.

He would come rolling up into town in his brother's GTO, hair slicked back, glasses high on his nose, dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and no tie. He could be a bible salesman, a gangster, a well-dressed nerd IT serviceman. By the time he left whatever family and town was afflicted, he would have gained their respect.

Waves of murmurs about him spread across the country.

Soon, with honed skills, Richard could feel a pull in the direction of true possessions. It's what led him to a small town in the middle of Texas called Bethel.

 

 

 

 

 

There was an article in the newspaper:

"Local teen, Kate Fuller, gone missing. The daughter of preacher Jacob Fuller, the seventeen-year-old teen went off the rails according to her family and friends, and then disappeared. She has been missing for four days. If you have seen her, or have any idea where she may be, please contact law enforcement."

Mary sat at home, biting her nails, calling everyone she could think of, trying to get Kate back.

"It'll be okay, Mom," Scott would say, multiple times a day, coming up to her to put a hand on her shoulder or to give her a hug. "She'll come back."

Mary hadn't told Scott her assumption, only Jacob and it had ended badly. He had never raised his voice to her before, but when she suggested that their daughter may be possessed by an evil spirit, a demon, it was too much. After their fight, they stayed quiet and civil, with Mary praying for her daughter's soul and Jacob praying for her daughter's return.

 

 

 

 

 

Richard didn't go to the family right away. He saw the newspaper while he was enjoying a breakfast burrito in the park from a truck parked on the corner. The paper was thin, but the missing persons listing was on the front page.

There was a photograph beside the article. A pretty girl, big smile, dimples, hair held back by a bow, pastel colored shirt. She was the epitome of a pure, young soul.

Richard knew by now that she was the perfect target for a demon, spirit, or really any malicious entity that wanted to cause some havoc.

With breath smelling of green chili and the paper under his arm, he asked around and easily found the house of the preacher. It was a simple home, looking perfect from the outside. This was again expected. Oddly enough, spirits rarely inhibited people who were _already_ bad; they much preferred to break up a happy family than take over a scruffy criminal.

Richard walked up to the front door and knocked, clearing his throat and preparing for the speech he would have to give.

A woman answered, looking like she hadn't slept in a week. She pulled a sweater tighter around herself. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Hello, ma'am," he said. "My name is Richard Gecko. I couldn't help but notice your daughter is missing." He lifted the newspaper so she could see. "I think I can help."

"Are you…some sort of law enforcement?" She leaned against the door.

"No, ma'am."

"Then how can you help?" She didn't sound defensive, just tired.

"I believe your daughter is possessed by a spirit that means to do harm to her and others," Richard said, blurting it out in the same tone as if he had just asked her to buy a bible.

To his surprise, her expression gained some positive sparks and she stepped back into the house. "Come inside."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary was willing to listen to anyone who believed her story about Kate being possessed. She told Richard about everything that had happened since Kate came back from her dinner with Kyle. Richard took it all in stride, looking out of place in his dark suit in the floral living room designs but he was attentive, which was more than Mary could say about her husband.

"It sounds like a possession by a spirit, not a demon," Richard concluded with a nod. "Which may sound like it will be easier to free her from it, but that's not the case. You see, spirits are still human enough to more easily bond to a human host. Demons are so evil and distorted that it makes it more difficult to keep the human under control."

"Like all of those… _exorcist_ movies," Mary whispered, leaning forward. She shuddered at the thought of Kate's body distorting to keep a demon inside.

"To put it simply, yes." He paused and looked around the house. It appeared a bit more chaotic than the outside would suggest, and he guessed it had something to do with the missing girl. "Do you mind if I look at your daughter's room? If the spirit is strong enough, I may be able to feel its presence and be able to summon it here."

Mary nodded, thankful to have someone who believed her. "Of course." She stood up, just as her cell phone rang. It was from an unknown number, but she answered right away. "Hello?"

"Momma?"

She grasped the phone like a lifeline. "Kate? Katie, oh my God, where are you?"

"I don't know." Kate's voice whimpered over the line. "I just want to come home."

"Come home," Mary said, before Richard could interject and tell her that was a bad idea. "Come home, we can help you."

"Help me," Kate whispered before she gasped and the line went dead.

Mary stared at the phone, a lump of ice in her stomach. "Oh God," she breathed out, nearly falling down into the chair nearby.

"Mrs. Fuller, I have a very bad feeling about this," Richard said, his voice as gentle as he could make it.

"She sounded so scared."

Richard didn't want to tell her that that was most likely the spirit and not Kate who had been on the phone, but instead, he just put his hand on her shoulder and let her gather control of herself before he would move into the business end of things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone at school was on edge. Scott was glad to be out of there. He noticed the classic car sitting in the driveway and hurried immediately inside.

"Mom!" he called almost before the door was open. "Mom?"

He bolted up the stairs and stopped short in the doorway to Kate's room. His mother stood there in an oversized sweater, watching as a very tall man in black waved burning herbs around in the air.

"What's going on? Is he burning sage?" Scott wrinkled his nose.

Mary crowded him back toward the stairs. "Honey, just go downstairs. Make me some tea."

"Mom, what's going on?" He looked over his mother's shoulder and saw the man now standing with his arms out to either side, his head tilted back like he was praying—or pretended to be Jesus, more likely.

"I'll tell you once you go downstairs." When Scott didn't budge, she sighed and added, "Kate is coming home."

Scott's eyes widened and he did as he mother said. The entire time he was waiting for the kettle to boil, he bounced his foot up and down, up and down. He felt so out of the loop, but he forced himself to stay downstairs.

The kettle screeched and he let it for a few extra seconds as a beacon to bring Mary downstairs. He then poured it into a mug and waited.

A minute later, Mary came downstairs alone. Scott raced toward her with the cup.

"Mom, what—"

"Your sister is possessed," Mary said, diving in because she couldn't handle the thought of letting this linger unacknowledged any longer.

Scott stopped short. "What?"

"You know how Kate had been acting strangely before she disappeared?" Scott nodded. "It turns out that she is possessed by a spirit. Mr. Gecko, the man upstairs, says he can exorcise her and give Kate back to us."

It took him more than a few minutes to process and to fully understand what he was hearing. "Is this for real?"

"Yes," Mary said sadly. "Richard, Mr. Gecko, he said he was drawn here by the aura of the spirit and he is going to send it back to where it came from. Do you believe me?"

Seeing the pure fear and need on his mother's face, Scott nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. We need Kate back. I've been worried something bad happened. She's been gone so long."

Mary nodded and leaned forward to hug him. "I know. I know. We'll get her back."

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Fuller was getting a crash course in how to grow a backbone. Sidelined in her own body, she had copious amounts of time to figure out ways to keep herself strong so she wouldn't be completely squashed by the spirit taking her over. She was more than just her body, she was her spirit, her brain, her willpower.

 _You will not get away with this_ , she told the spirit.

"Oh, but I've already gotten away with so much," the spirit said, twirling some hair around Kate's finger.

Kate almost faltered. She was aware of almost everything the spirit did in her body. That included the way she had beat up that homeless man with her bare hands, how she had stolen from that store and made that police car's lights explode, and she had an idea of the terror that was in store for her family once she arrived home.

_I'll fight you. I won't let you hurt my family._

The spirit pursed her lips. "I don't think you have a choice in the matter."

Kate, summoning all of her hatred for this creature and all of her love for her family, lifted her own foot a few inches from the ground and stomped it down.

The small, simple movement shook the spirit and it lashed out, but Kate had already backed up far enough in her mind where it couldn't touch her.

Kate was getting stronger. She could win this.

 

 

 

 

 

Jacob was not so easy to convince as Scott was. As he and Mary argued in the other room, Scott warily watched Richard as they sat awkwardly in the living room, drinking coffee.

"So…you fight demons huh?" Scott asked.

Richard shrugged. "You could say that. I like to think I save human souls. It's my purpose."

Scott slurped. "That's cool. I mean…I guess if God is real, the bad things have to be real, too."

"I guess so."

Silence fell, filled with muffled arguments.

"What're you going to do to her? To my sister, I mean."

"I won't hurt her," Richard reassured him. "The spirit may hurt the host to try to get me to stop, but I will take precautions so that your sister will be fine."

Scott was relieved. "My sister…she's a really great person. It's annoying how _good_ she can be all of the time, but she doesn't deserve this."

Richard nodded sadly. "No one ever does."

A few minutes later, Jacob and Mary returned. Mary smoothed down her hair and Jacob kept an angry eye on Richard.

"I have to believe in my wife and if she believes what you're saying is true, I have to stand by her," Jacob said. He wasn't doing this willingly, but having her entire family there would help Kate fight so Richard would take it.

"Thank you, sir. I promise you, all I want to do is help your daughter." Richard moved forward to shake the older man's hand.

Jacob shook it and then looked at Scott, some sort of father-son language passing silently between them. "So, what do we have to do to get ready?"

"Well, first off, it's not going to be like in the movies," Richard said, taking the family into the dining room so that he could show them all of his devices and lay out a plan for Kate's appearance.

 

 

 

 

 

It took over a day for Kate and the spirit to make their way back to Bethel. They purposely arrived at night. Kate's disappearance would cause unwanted attention if the public saw them during the daytime. The spirit didn't want that. The only news it wanted to see was a headline reading TEENAGER DISAPPEARS RETURNS HOME TO MURDER ENTIRE FAMILY.

Kate had been fighting the entire time. She could sometimes gain control of a limb for more than a minute, but had yet to push the spirit completely out of conscious habitation of her mind. She pressed against edges, looking for weak spots, but came away with shards and sores like she had been playing with broken Plexiglas.

By the time they stepped onto Forest Lane, Kate felt confident that she could fight. She would fight to save her family, even if she was lost in the process. She would not let them become a headline, a horror story told to the next generation. She would rather die here and now, tonight, than sit in a jail cell for the rest of her life with the knowledge that her hands had taken their lives.

As the spirit felt a rush of adrenaline and pure ecstasy at the chaos it was about to create, Kate stayed hidden, preserving her strength and hoping it would hold long enough for her family to make it through the night.

The spirit knew exactly where to go. Rather than go through the front door, it pulled Kate's body over the low back fence and came up through the back door, the one that came through the kitchen. There was the big silver fridge, the family photos to the side, the comforting sights and scents of home.

Kate almost let herself slip, but she remembered that she couldn't be selfish. She had to trust in her faith, trust that He would give her the strength she needed to make it through this.

"Momma, I'm home!" the spirit called out in her voice, not bothering to make her sound scared.

The light was on in the kitchen, a single lamp in the living room. Mary came from around the stairs where she must have been passing time in the master bedroom.

Seeing her mom, Kate was floored, wanting nothing more than to run and hug her. The spirit wouldn't let her. Instead, Kate smirked and popped out a hip.

"Hello, _Mom_."

Mary stayed a few feet away, searching Kate's face for some sign that she was in there.

"Did you miss me?"

Mary nodded. "Yes, I did. We all did. Where did you go? What did you do?"

It only happened for a split second, but Kate and the spirit both felt a sudden squeeze, like they had been put into a vacuum, but it was gone before either of them could process it.

"Oh, I'm not sure you'd want to know what little Katie-Cakes was up to while she was away." The spirit inspected her nails again. They were cracked and ragged now. In fact, Kate looked a little worse for the wear. Her hair was unbrushed and tangled, held up in a rats nest on the top of her head. Her clothes were worn and dirty and while she didn't reek, she still could use a shower.

Mary straightened her back. "So this is not my daughter I'm talking to," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could.

Kate was so proud of her mother for figuring it out, for standing up to this _thing_.

"So you _have_ figured it out! Good on you." The spirit lurched forward and patted Mary's shoulder. Mary flinched. "It always makes it interesting when the family _knows_ it isn't their beloved who is killing them, slowly and painfully, one by one."

Kate wanted to clench her jaw and scream, but she had to save her energy.

Instead of looking scared and backing away, Mary stood her ground.

Her resolve made the spirit falter. "What are you…why aren't you cowering? Why are you so calm?"

"That phone call, it wasn't Kate was it? It was a trap." Mary let the words sink in. "Well, we set a trap in return."

Just then, someone came up behind the spirit and grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her.

"No, no!" she struggled, her voice young and cracking, as the person tied her hands behind her back. It wasn't a novice's job either; they were secure. They also _burned_. "What is this?!"

A man stepped out from behind her, bright blue eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. "An exorcism."

 

 

 

 

 

Richard was seeing double.

On one hand, he saw a pretty teenage girl with pale skin, dark hair, fear in her eyes. On the other, he saw the twisted, swirling force of a spirit that was residing in her flesh. He saw them separately and together. When he first learned he could do this, it would give him a headache looking at someone possessed for too long, but by now, he was used to it. He pick and chose when to see which part.

Richard held onto Kate's possessed body and Mary moved out of the way. They set up two dining table chairs facing each other in the living room as part of the trap for the exorcism. He sat Kate down in the one on the left. It had a special protective circle around it to make it so that she wouldn't escape; either in flesh form or otherwise.

The Fullers gathered together a few feet away. Jacob's arm around Mary, Mary's hand to her mouth as the spirit struggled before submitting, slouching down in the seat, and Scott still wrapping his head around what was going on. It was obvious to anyone who knew her that this person in front of them was not Kate. Not by a long shot.

Richard sat opposite the spirit, back straight, an aura of authority and strength. "Do you have a name, or have you forgotten?" he asked, speaking to the swirling grey creature he could see overlaid and underlaid around Kate's body.

The spirit shrugged, rolling her shoulders exaggeratedly. "It doesn't matter who am I, just what I want."

"And what's that?" Richard asked calmly.

The spirit sighed and looked over at the Fullers. "Isn't it obvious?"

Spirits didn't possess people on purpose; an angry, dead family member couldn't possess another family member just because they wanted to. It was random, but bloodshed of the family surrounding the person always followed. Richard wasn't going to let that happen here.

"That's not going to happen," Richard said.

The spirit scoffed. "That's what she keeps saying. Annoying bitch," it added in a whisper.

Mary let out a small gasp and Jacob squeezed her shoulder.

Richard didn't take his eyes off the demon, but he put up a hand up in the family's direction to try to tell them this was a good sign that Kate wasn't submitting to the spirit's control.

"What else does she say?"

The spirit paused, looking at him warily before shrugging and huffing, like it was talking about an annoying toddler sibling ruining their favorite dress. "Not much. Tells me to get out, to stop, that this isn't going to happen. She backs off a lot. I think she prays." It rolled Kate's eyes. "Like that's gonna help."

This time, the hand Richard held up was firm, to stop Jacob as he opened his mouth and stepped forward.

"It may," Richard said, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "Do you know who I am?"

"No. Doesn't matter. I'll kill you, too."

Richard shook his head. "No, you won't." He moved slowly and deliberately, as to not make the spirit jumpy. "I can see you. Not as this girl you've taken against her will, but the you that is in the place between life and the final resting place of spirits. You've gotten dark and twisted. I can see that."

The spirit eyed him critically. He didn't try to look big and intimidating for a number of reasons: he didn't need to be physically massive to subdue a spirit, something he couldn't touch. It also made spirits, and demons especially, underestimate him.

Richard pulled a small blade out of his inside pocket.

"What's that for?" Jacob asked, voice as big and protective as he could make it.

"Scott, I want you to come and unwind the rope from one of Kate's wrists and twist it around the chair," Richard instructed.

The spirit thought it was going to get the upper hand here, but Richard had been doing this long enough to know what he was doing. As Scott crouched next to his possessed sister, Richard turned to Mary. "Can you get me Kate's cross from her room, Mary? Thank you." She did as he asked requested after shushing her husband.

Scott unwound the rope from one wrist, freeing it, and tied the rope through the bars on the back of the chair to keep her other arm behind her still.

"Good, now go stand with your family," Richard told Scott as Mary came back with the cross. She laid it and the chain on Richard's large outstretched palm.

"No matter what you do, do not touch either of us until I speak to you directly," Richard told the family. "This is very important."

Mary nodded and Richard put his trust in her that she could control Jacob and Scott. Turning back to the demonic spirit, Richard laid the cross necklace over his knee and held the knife in his left hand.

"Give me your hand," Richard instructed the spirit.

"Why?"

"Give me your hand or I'll take it."

He didn't give the spirit the time to decide. He snatched her wrist with his free hand and cut a line across her palm. The spirit hissed, but he moved too quickly for it to react. Richard cut his right palm and grabbed the cross. He pressed his hand against Kate's, their blood mixing around the purifying motif of the cross and he spoke ancient words that sounded foreign and menacing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate squinted her eyes and blinked until the light died down and she could see properly. She was sitting in a lounge chair on the edge of a pool wearing her favorite bathing suit. It looked like she was at some kind of motel.

"Where am I?" she whispered. Her head was cloudy.

"You're safe, for now," a man's voice said from beside her.

She jumped and instantly pulled herself away from that side of the chair. Looking over, she saw a man with long arms and long legs, dressed in a suit with no tie, glasses over his bright blue eyes. She had never seen him before.

"Who are you? Did…did I die? Did that _thing_ finally kill me?" Her voice wobbled with each word.

"No," the man said and something about him made her relax. "My name is Richard. What's yours?"

She hesitated for a moment, eyeing his outreached hand. "My name's Kate," she said finally, shaking his hand.

The instant their hands touched, she gasped. Her time of being locked in her own body came rushing back to her, as well as a need for speed action and, strangely, more of that calming emotion. It was coming from Richard.

"We don't have much time," he told her. "I am with your family right now. We've trapped the spirit and I have to get it out of your body before it does something terrible."

Tears came to Kate's eyes as she remembered the things it had already made her do. "It's too late for that."

"It's not too late to save your family," Richard insisted. "Kate, look at me."

She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly before turning to face him.

"I can help you. I can save you, I can keep your family safe. I just need your help."

"What can I do? It's so strong…it did things with my body, my hands…I can't even think about it."

"You're still here. The fact that I'm talking to you right now means that you're stronger than the spirit. But I'm going to need you to fight it, to push it out as I do what I need to do on the other side."

She processed this. Had this been any other moment in her life, she would have thought this man was insane. But she took everything he said in stride. It felt too _good_ for him to be bad, for this to be some sort of trick.

"Who are you? What kinda person does this?"

"In layman's terms? I'm a traveling exorcist," Richard said with a half smile. "I've been doing this for a while. You can trust me."

"Can the spirit or demon or whatever hear what we're saying now?"

"No."

"Tell me something that only I would know so you'll know it's me, that it's not some trap to set the thing loose on my family."

Richard thought about it for a moment. "Call me Richie."

 

 

 

 

 

To the Fullers, Richard slapped his bleeding hand to Kate's bleeding hand, closed his eyes for approximately thirty seconds and then gasped loud enough to make them all jump. He took his hand back, letting the bloody cross drop to the floor. The spirit hissed and pulled at the chair.

Richard stood, outstretched his wounded hand and placed it against Kate's forehead. He said another incantation and the spirit was put momentarily to sleep.

"We need to move fast," he said, turning to the Fullers. "Scott, untie her from the chair. Jacob, help me lay her on the floor. Mary, the holy water, create a circle around her body on the floor."

Everyone moved swiftly, for which Richard was grateful. His palm stung, but he ignored it.

"What just happened?" Mary asked as she waited for Kate's body to be lowered gently on the floor.

"I spoke to Kate. She's alive. I'm going to get her back to you," Richard said simply as Mary poured a stream of holy water around her daughter. Luckily they had enough faith-filled artifacts and Jacob's power as a preacher to create a whole jug of it for this occasion.

"Okay," Richard said once everyone was finished. "This may be a bit scary, but I need you all to trust me and to trust Kate. She's still in there and she's strong."

The Fullers agreed and he knelt down at Kate's feet.

"Mary, hold her head. Jacob, Scott, her arms. She's going to flail, but feeling the strength of her family around will help her push the spirit out."

Again, everyone did as they were told. The dimness in the living room gave the entire situation a very ominous feeling.

Richard would say that it was appropriate if he had a second to spare, but time was of the essence.

"You son of a fucking bitch!" the spirit awoke with a roar. She struggled and Richard placed his knees on either side of Kate's hips, putting just enough weight on her knees where she couldn't move them. "What the fuck did you do to me!"

Richard ignored the spirit. Farther communication directly with it would just make it stronger. He had one of his tools, the never-ending snake amulet circling around the sun, in his left hand, holding it above her body, and outstretched his quickly coagulating cut in the direction of Kate's chest.

The words he spoke were Latin. Jacob vaguely recognized them, though Latin wasn't a strong suit in small towns in Texas. The spirit struggled, spewing language that Kate wouldn't even _know_ how to properly use. She struggled against their holds, but the Fullers would fight for their daughter as she fought to get to them.

Richard lifted the amulet so that his words, had if they had corporeal forms, would pass through it and fall into the Kate's body. He briefly willed Kate to fight from her side before continuing his recitation.

Somehow, he made the dead language sound as if that was how people spoke to this day. His confidence did wonders in breaking the spirit's hold on Kate, as did Kate fighting on the other side.

"Momma?" Kate whispered between the swears and curses. Mary let out a cry of relief.

"Don't say anything, Mary," Richard said, his voice loud and commanding. He continued speaking as the spirit began to thrash. It took all they could to keep her remotely still, though her elbows and heels hit the hardwood floors, and her hips bucked, trying to get Richard to release her legs.

Richard was impressed at how resilient the family was being. They were going to need a lot more than just prayers after this night to forget the sights they were witnessing.

As his exorcism spell reached its end, the spirit was fighting to keep hold on the body of Kate, and left Kate herself to whimper and cry, which was almost enough to break her parents into letting her go.

Richard leaned forward, the amulet touching over Kate's heart. As he spoke the last lines of the memorized and originally written exorcism, Kate let out a screech, a horrible, inhuman thing that made the lamp bulb shatter. Richard pressed the amulet against her chest with his bleeding palm and finished the words with as much power behind them he could muster.

All at once, her body lay still and the room felt eerily silent.

Richard's heart thudded in his chest and as much as he wanted to collapse onto the ground, he held the amulet to her chest, feeling it vibrate under his hand. Once it stopped, he quickly took it away from her skin and scuttled backward, not caring how ungraceful he looked.

"Is she okay?" Mary asked. The family was bathed in the faraway light from the kitchen.

"She will need to gain control of her body once again. It may take a moment," Richard said. He was careful not to touch the metal again, holding the amulet by the leather string. He placed it on the floor, drew a circle around it in holy water and recited a number of words that sounded like a list. As the spirit was cast out of the living world, the entire house shook and every person inside of it felt a gust of air pass over them.

Richard nearly collapsed then, propping himself up on his elbow as he ears rang and his eyes swam. He looked at Kate who had begun to move around, and saw just a girl.

"Kate? Honey, open your eyes," Mary said, smoothing her hand over Kate's face.

"Momma?" Kate whispered.

All three Fullers had wet faces, and as Kate came back into herself, she realized what happened, where she had been, what she had done, and she cried too. She curled herself into her mother's lap.

Richard's head came back into focus and he pushed himself up into a more decent sitting position.

"Wait," Kate said, her voice thick with tears. "Wait." She struggled to sit, squinting in the bad lighting until her eyes fell on Richard. "Richie," she said, as surprised to see him in the flesh as most people were after a little spiritual visit.

He couldn't help but smile, knowing he had done well, that the girl was saved. She would be scarred, but she would move on; she would live. "The spirit is gone," Richard said. "I sent it away."

 

 

 

 

 

Kate didn't tell her parents what happened. She didn't tell them that she had hurt people with her bare hands. She was grateful to have her body back, but the sins that her own flesh had done would forever be burned into her like invisible lines of scars.

Richard left quickly after she woke up. She had enough focus to say thank you before he was gone. Her family wanted to be around her, but she desperately needed to wash away as much as she could from her skin.

Like a child, she asked Mary to wash her hair. She hadn't taken a bath with her mother since she was in kindergarten. But tonight, she stripped down and sat in the warm, soapy water and cried softly as Mary wet her hair and washed it twice. Afterward, Kate scrubbed her skin until it was red and hurt.

She ate quietly, hugged all three members of her family as tightly as humanly possible, and went to her room. For the first time in years, she left the door open and the hall light illuminated the dark corners of her personal space.

The next day, she ate breakfast and told her family she wanted to find Richard and thank him for what he did. Mary surprised everyone when she told them that she knew Richard was staying in the motel on the edge of town.

With the promise to tell them what happened when she was ready, Kate got dressed—with her body in control now, she could dress herself and chose a pair of jeans, a tank top, a flannel overshirt, boots and most importantly, her cross—and drove her parents' car through town.

She knew it would take more than a few days to face everything she had been through, but she could worry about that later.

Her face clear of dark makeup, her faith once again resting over her heart, Kate pressed her hands together—feeling that little bit of pain from her right palm reminded her that she was real, that this wasn't a trick—and asked the office clerk where Richard Gecko was staying.

She felt calm. It was, that same calm from Richard's visit when she was possessed; it was like standing in a warm beam of sun on a cold, cold day. It grew as she got to his room door and knocked.

"One minute," she heard him say from the other side of the door.

She waited patiently and had the smallest of smiles on her face when he opened the door. His hair was disheveled, his eyes squinted behind his glasses, his undershirt untucked, and white button-down unbuttoned haphazardly and thrown on over it all.

"Kate," Richard said, surprised to see her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry, is this a bad time?" She took a small step backward.

"No, no. I was just…it doesn't matter," he took a step to the side. "Do you want to come inside?"

Normally, Kate would have said no, but she stepped in. The room looked neat and she sat at one of the two chairs situated under the window. Richard hurriedly tucked in his shirt and then sat opposite her.

"I um…I just wanted to thank you properly for what you did for me," Kate said.

"Of course."

She couldn't help but notice the matching bandages they had on their hands. "Did…does exorcising something put a lot of stress on you?"

"It takes a lot of energy, if that's what you're asking," Richard nodded. "But it's almost always worth it."

"Almost?"

"I do not have a one-hundred-percent success rate," he admitted. "Mixing the natural and supernatural can sometimes have unexpected results."

Kate understood. She had no right to blame him for situations she had no control over or knowledge about and moved on. "Well, thank you. I don't know how I would have lived with myself if the spirit went through with its plans."

Richard nodded sadly. He knew what happened. People went to mental health hospitals and were left in a seduced state—if they didn't kill themselves first. "I'm glad you're all right," he said instead. "You seem like a nice girl."

Kate flushed slightly and looked around the room, finding his gaze a bit too intense. "What…what happened? When I saw you at that hotel? What was that?"

Richard took a deep breath. "That was…well, I saw into your soul. I bypassed the spirit and spoke directly to you, to your…essence."

"So I do have a soul," she whispered, as if it was the answer to a question she had been waiting to receive for her entire life.

"Of course. Why wouldn't you?"

Kate had a different question to counter his. "You saw into my soul?"

"Just a small part. The conscious part so I could talk to you. I don't pry."

She looked down at her wounded hand and then over to his. "Could you? I mean, if you weren't busy trying to save someone's life from a demon, could you just…look at their soul?"

Richard sat back a little. Their eyes were locked again. "I suppose I could," he said. "I've never tried. It's a gift I was given."

Kate nodded, taking in all he had to say. Silence fell between them.

"Who gave you the gift?" she asked finally.

"That is a story for another time."

Kate wanted to laugh, but she felt too raw from the exposure of the spirit to do so. "Maybe you could tell me sometime."

Richard hesitated. "I don't usually…I don't keep in touch with the people I help."

"Why not?"

"I don't do it for the reward," Richard said.

"It wouldn't be a reward," Kate insisted. "I just need someone to talk to about this. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to tell my family…the spirit had me do terrible things. I don't know if I can tell my parents, but they're going to keep asking."

He sat forward, stopping her, and laid a hand over her clenched hands on the tabletop. "Kate, I'm sorry that your world's been turned upside down. Everyone gets through this. You will, too."

"I want you to help me," she pleaded. "No one else around here is gonna understand."

This was going to be a defining moment for Richard Gecko. He kept away from the people he saved so that they could move on and not linger on the past, but then again, no one had ever come and thanked him personally afterward.

"Richie," Kate said, moving her hands and curling her fingers against his on the table. "It won't be for a long. A week, or maybe a little more. Just until I can figure out what I'm going to do."

He looked at their hands. He thought about his brother in jail, his cold upbringing, this purpose he was given…he was supposed to save souls, and if Kate's was still in torment, it was his duty to continue helping her, wasn't it?

But that had never been easy for him, this simple human connection, and yet here he had it, right in front of him.

He must have taken too long to reply, because Kate seemed to realize the warmth resonating from their hands and took her hand back.

"Okay," Richard said. "I can't promise it won't hurt."

"I'll take what I can get."

"Maybe praying would help. Now, if you want."

She tilted her head to the side and then nodded once. "Yeah, okay." She took a breath, settled into the chair, and their hands found each others again across the table. "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed…" she started.

Richard watched her as her face softened in comfort before he closed his eyes and joined her.


End file.
